Andrew Dickens: Public services looks to be the common factor in our recent woes

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Great news for the ski fields. Winter has finally decided to do its thing and snow is dumping.

And the wild and wooly weather arrived in the week we learnt that we are no more ready for a natural disaster today than we were before Cyclone Gabrielle.

A few weeks ago work stopped on the COP project.

COP is Common Operating Platform. It’s a data system that could mean that any agency involved in a disaster can communicate with each other in real time. It’s making sure all the computers and phones can talk to each other.

We need one for all sorts of things - weather events, fire, terrorist attacks, invasions. Everyone needs to be able to access it - Police, Fire, Army, Civil Defence.

And then the whole thing can be coordinated from a local, regional or central position.

Not having a common operating system was cited as the major failure in Gabrielle so this is a big thing. And I was very glad to hear the Prime Minister and Mike talking about it this morning.

After describing the problem, the PM then said you can see how big our turnaround job is. And yes it is.

And then Mike read out a text complaining that Ardern and Robertson were asleep at the wheel over this issue.

Blaming the previous administration for all our woes is why nothing ever happens.

The reality is the programme to create a common operating system started in 2014 under the John Key administration. His cabinet also ordered spatial data infrastructure be built to house the COP. Infrastructure that all New Zealanders could use to improve their business communication. They failed.

The Bill English administration failed to implement the system. And then the Ardern administration and then the Hipkins administration and now the Luxon administration. Because they’ve let the parties walk away.

The common factor in all the failures over a decade is the inability of the public services' involved to agree. They are also loathe to share data.

And there’s the rub. Politicians and governments come and go, but the public service is forever. And in this case, they just may be pretty useless.

Now whenever I get stuck into public servants, I’m told off for punching down and that the buck stops at the top with the minister.

And I get that. But at some stage, you’ve just got to stop blaming the coach and sack some players.

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